7 Business Wins - A Reflection on What I've Learned for 2023

Kirsten 0:00

You're listening to the creative teacher podcast, a show for busy teachers looking for ways to engage, inspire and make an impact in their teacher businesses. I'm Kiersten, a teacher business owner who is all about simple and actionable tips, strategies and resources that result in wins, big or small. If you're looking for that extra spark of creativity, you've come to the right place. Let's dive in together.

fficially the last episode of: 2023

year was at the Spring Fling: 2023

The second business when I feel is my social studies membership, it is definitely like, oh my gosh, it comes from a place of love. Because I cannot tell you how many hours I spent. Just getting it ready and prepping the resources and learning a lot of information about how to run a membership and just seeing how it is today. It's you know, it's a small little membership. It's nice and cozy, but people are loving the resources and they seem super receptive. And they're super grateful for the resources I provide in the social studies membership. There is a lot of wins and different aha moments I got during that launch. And you can check out one of my previous episodes about my behind the scenes of launching the membership. And some things I'm going to be taking in for the next year to improve it and condensing so it's not too much information. It's not like information overload. So that's something I want to you know, think about for the upcoming years to kind of continue to expand upon upon it and see ways to market it more for my target audience.

The third business win is actually understanding Facebook ads, I will have to give props to Zach's buckler. He hosted a Facebook ads bootcamp in October. And when I tell you like my eyes were open, like, oh my gosh, this is what list building ads can be like, This is how you grow your list. And these are the possibilities. I'm like drinking the juice of Facebook ads. Of course, I'm not putting down like hundreds of dollars a day or anything like that. I'm doing something manageable for my budget. But I'm still growing my list without even thinking about it. I never thought about how running a constant list building ad is one of the key ways to get more people in your circle hearing about what you offer free and paid, and what resources you have to offer. And it's just a good way for getting more exposure when organic traffic doesn't seem to be working, paid ads can be a really great alternative. So he has a podcast, it's not your average marketing podcast, which is a really great podcast to listen to any hosts Facebook ad workshops throughout the year, he also has a membership, not your average membership. So I highly recommend checking him out. He is like he's definitely somebody I aligned with. I love his style of teaching. I love his philosophy of business in general. It's like, you know, you don't need to overcharge people and all that kind of stuff, the values that he has, I share some of his values. So I think he's somebody I have learned a lot from. And I definitely recommend if you're learning about ads, or just in any type of marketing in general.

Okay, this fourth one is not necessarily a business when well, maybe it is because I'm learning how to implement it learning how to say no more times than I need to. I'm very like I'm a people pleaser. My one of my things I don't like is when people are disappointed in me or they are expecting something from me, but they don't get 100% of that. So I feel like I've said a lot of Yes, more times than not this year. And I need to be okay with saying no more times. And that includes things that I'm participating in and collaborating with, I found myself at certain points of the year being super overwhelmed, because I had so many different projects going on at one time, which is like already my scatterbrain like it was an overload. So there were a lot of stressful moments throughout the year. And I want to condense that so that it's not stressful, not as stressful. So I'm going to be saying no, a lot more. And just simplifying things like just going with what I really enjoy and focusing on those. And then if I do you have any time, I'm looking at my schedule to see if I can participate in a project. If I can't, then I'm just going to be okay with saying no,

quarter three last year, and: 2022

I got the first milestone in: 2021

And my seventh reflection I have is, my as far as business wins, creating the resources, no one wants to, I still think about Martina and her presentation at the TPT forward conference. When I'm like sitting there, like, it feels like hours and hours of well, all these repetitive tasks, because I'm doing a lot of the same things because it is a product line. similar tasks, of course, different content, but it is not a resource that like I love the content. Of course, I love US history. And I love you know, geography and all kinds of social studies topics. So it's not necessarily that it's just like the getting down and dirty with like, making the teacher guide and creating the lesson plans and the lessons and the activities that go with it. And it is a lot of work. But that's what teachers are looking for. They're looking for someone to be able to do that for you. Because they can't find it anywhere else. Maybe they are like unhappy with their publisher company that their district provides or they're not happy with the district resources that the district provides. And they are just trying to look for something that is super easy, super simple Print and Go Easy prep, but comprehensive at the same time. So it's definitely beneficial to think about rather than like churning out 100 products of a lot of small quick resources, thinking about creating those resources that no one else wants to do, or can't find. So that is something that is like it's paying off despite how like sometimes, there are times where I questioned my sanity, like, Why did I get myself into this, but it has been paying back tenfold. So my effort is being paid off. And I am very happy that people are getting what they need, and getting something that I wish I had as a social studies teacher.

s year and I'm so excited for: 2024

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